Programme Specification

I. Programme Details
Programme title Performance
Final award (exit awards will be made as BA ☐ MA ☐
outlined in the Taught Degree Regulations) BSc ☐ MSc ☐
Other MMus ☒
Mode of delivery Distance-learning ☐
On-campus ☒
Professional body accreditation (if applicable) n/a
Academic year this specification was created 2016/17
Dates of any subsequent amendments

II. Programme Aims: What will the programme allow you to achieve?
To develop performance to a professional standard in a specific Asian and African music
traditions while developing knowledge pertinent to performance and the geographical or
stylistic region of their performance specialism. The programme is designed to be either an
end qualification in its own right or to prepare the student for a research programme (MPhil
or PhD).

III. Programme Learning Outcomes: What will you learn on the programme?
There are four key areas in which you will develop:

Learning Outcomes: Knowledge

1. How to perform the music (or dance) of a specific Asian or African region or style to a
professional standard.
2. How to assess data and evidence critically and theoretically about performance from
live performance, audio and audio-visual resources, manuscripts and digital sources.
Students will develop skills to solve problems of conflicting sources and conflicting
interpretations, to locate materials, to use research sources (particularly research
library catalogues and sound archives) and other relevant sources.
3. To gain a thorough grounding in the theoretical and thematic focus of performance
theory, in respect to music (or dance) and related disciplines, so as to develop
appropriate techniques that can be applied to music (or dance) performance.
4. To obtain a solid knowledge of the music of a specific culture or region in Asia or
Africa.
5. To acquire additional relevant knowledge and experience pertaining to the music
industry, composition, and transcription and analysis.
Typical Teaching Methods Typical Assessment Methods
• Acquisition of 1 through individual or small • Through practical performance
group lessons with appropriate specialist examinations, performed solo or in
performers, coupled to attendance in ensembles, each practical element
seminars and classes. Students are required supplemented by the completion of
to attend all classes, study extensively on a portfolio and programme notes.
their own and prepare non-assessed work Non-performance componenets are
regularly. Students are encouraged to take assessed through unseen
part in additional group performance examinations and aural

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 activities, both as part of ensembles and in examinations and coursework.
improvisation or composition workshops. Coursework may be in the form of
• Acquisition of 2 and 3 through attending the essays, radio programmes, audio or
core course (Music in Global Perspective), audio-visual projects, or exercises in
coupled to public and research seminars, transcription and analysis.
workshops and concerts, through guided and
independent reading, and in the preparation
of coursework chosen with guidance from
essays on theoretical topics, fieldwork
projects. Students may train and complete
coursework in sound engineering, radio
programme development and broadcast, and
transcription and analysis.
• Acquisition of 4 through attending one of
several regional and culture-specific courses,
coupled to tutorials, through guided and
independent reading, and in the preparation
of coursework.
• Acquisition of 5 through an optional course,
the choice being approved in advance by the
course convenor to ensure an appropriate
relation with other parts of the degree
programme. Three courses are offered as a
minimum, concering the music business,
composition, and transcription and analysis.

Learning Outcomes: Intellectual (thinking) skills

1. Students should become precise and cautious in their assessment of evidence, and to
understand through practice what audio and audio-visual recordings, live
performance events, transcriptions, notations and written documents (including
internet resources) can and cannot tell us.
2. Students should question interpretations, however authoritative, and reassess
evidence for themselves.
3. Students should acquire sensitivity towards the perspectives of Asian and African
musicians and music scholars, and become aware of and think through the problems
involved in matching European performance and academic frameworks with Asian
and African understandings and practice. They should at all times be cognisant of
ethical dimensions in their work, maintaining best practice as defined both by UK
universities and the relevant international authorities.
4. Students should develop intellectual understandings of music - and of the music of a
specific cultural or regional tradition - that supplement and inform their performance,
including understandings based on analysis, transcription, and fieldwork.
Typical Teaching Methods Typical Assessment Methods
• Acquisition of 1 and 2 is fostered in all • Through the combination required
courses offered as part of the degree of practical presentation and
programme, in that all courses introduce or, portfolio in performance courses,
in the case of performance courses, require and in non-performance courses,
(a) information that will need to be assessed through unseen examinations and
critically and (b) demonstrate how conflicting aural examinations and coursework.
interpretations arise from the same Coursework may be in the form of

[2/5]
 information. In the case of performance essays, radio programmes, audio or
courses, these aspects of teaching and audio-visual projects, or exercises in
learning are expected to be demonstrated in transcription and analysis.
both the performance and portfolio
components
• Acquisition of 3 is fostered through (a)
contact at SOAS and beyond with performers
of Asian and African music and (b) through
the examination of literature and recordings
produced by musicians, scholars and music
producers in Europe and America as well as
in Asia and Africa and. The learning
experience is enhanced through tutorial
discussions within the core course,
particularly because of the wide variety of
backgrounds and wide variety of experience
that the students have, and because of the
extra-curricular workshop and performance
events that are arranged by the Department
of Music and in collaboration with the AHRC
Research Centre for Cross-Cultural Music and
Dance Performance.
• Acquisition 4 is fostered by the combination
of theoretical and thematic coverage in the
core course and the content of the regional
or culture-specific music course chosen by
the student.

Learning Outcomes: Subject-based practical skills

The programme aims to help students with the following practical skills:
1. Performance skills in a specific Asian or African music (or dance) to a professional standard.
2. Communication of performance skills through an awareness of presentation and other
aspects of performance theory.
3. Effective communication in writing, demonstrating the ability to retrieve, sift and select
information from a variety of sources.
4. Verbal presentation, through seminar papers and in introducing performance practice.
Discussion and listening skills to explore ideas introduced during seminars.
5. Practice research techniques applied to performance in a variety of contexts, including, as
relevant, inter-cultural and cross-cultural collaborations, and specialized research libraries and
institutes.
6. Develop, as appropriate, other skills relevant to music, such as fieldwork skills, audio and
audio-visual recording skills, transcription and analysis skills, and skills in the preparation of
radio programmes.
Typical Teaching Methods Typical Assessment Methods
• Acquisition of 1 and 2 through the • Through the combination required
preparation of two performance of practical presentation and
programmes, and the presentation of these portfolio in performance courses,
on stage or in an appropriate concert and in non-performance courses,
environment, supplemented by writing through unseen examinations and
aural examinations and coursework.

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 programme notes and preparing a portfolio Coursework may be in the form of
of relevant materials. essays, radio programmes, audio or
• Acquisition of 3 through library research, audio-visual projects, or exercises in
class presentations, use of music archives transcription and analysis.
(including the National Sound Archive) and
internet resources.
• Acquisition of 3 and 4 through regular
seminar presentations, through discussion,
and through the setting of clear deadlines for
the submission of written work.
• Acquisition of 5 through the provision of, and
encouraging students to participate in formal
and informal workshops and performance
activities, including collaborative cross-
cultural and inter-cultural sessions,
improvisations and composition workshops.
• Acquisition of 6 through classes on fieldwork,
transcription and analysis, and the availability
of training in audio and audio-visual
recording, coupled to elective coursework in
these areas.

Learning Outcomes: Transferrable skills

The programme will encourage students to:
1. Prepare and perform well-structured, balanced, and effective performance events.
2. Develop critical performance theory skills.
3. Write good review and essays.
4. Structure and communicate ideas effectively in performance contexts and both orally
and in writing.
5. Understand unconventional ideas.
6. Study a variety of performance, archived, written and digital materials, in libraries,
archives, and other research institutes of a kind they will not have used as
undergraduates or as performance specialists.
7. Present (non-assessed) material orally.
8. Develop, as appropriate, skills relevant to music, such as performance skills, fieldwork
skills, audio and audio-visual recording skills, transcription and analysis skills, and skills
in the preparation of radio programmes.
Typical Teaching Methods Typical Assessment Methods
• Acquisition of 1, 2 and 4 through the • Through the combination required
preparation of two performance of practical presentation and
programmes, and the presentation of these portfolio in performance courses,
on stage or in an appropriate concert and in non-performance courses,
environment, supplemented by writing through unseen examinations and
programme notes and preparing a portfolio aural examinations and
of relevant materials. coursework. Coursework may be
• Acquisition of 3, 4, 5 and 7 through class and in the form of essays, radio
seminar presentations, discussions and programmes, audio or audio-visual
essays. projects, or exercises in
• Acquisition of 6 through access to the SOAS transcription and analysis.
Library and the British Library Sound Archive,

[4/5]
 and through the provision of detailed reading
lists, including references to internet
materials.
• Acquisition of 8 through elective training on
fieldwork, transcription and analysis, and
training in audio and audio-visual recording.

General statement on contact hours – postgraduate programmes

Masters programmes (with the exception of two-year full-time MAs) consist of 180 credits,
made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation
of 60 credits. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which
optional.
As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be
independent study (see https://www.soas.ac.uk/admissions/ug/teaching/) such as reading
and research, preparing coursework, revising for examinations and so on. Also included is
class time, for example lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects may have more
class time than others – a typical example of this are language acquisition modules.
At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar every
week, but this does vary.
More information can be found on individual module pages.

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 MMus Performance

Dissertation
credits 60
module code 15PMUC008
module title Performance as Research
status compulsory module

Taught Component Taught Component Taught Component Taught Component Taught Component
credits 15 30 15 30 30
module code 15PMUH031 15PMUC002
from list of recommended

module title Music in Global Perspective + Performance + from List A + from List A, B or C + options below or from open
options list if approved by +
programme convenor
status core module core module guided option* guided option* open option

*List of modules (subject to availability)

Code Title Credits
List A: Area Modules
15PMUH017 Aspects of Music and Religion in South East Asia 15
15PMUH029 Atlantic Africa: Musical Rebels and Divas 15
15PMUH027 Atlantic Africa: Players in the Mediation of African Popular Music 15
15PMUH024 Ethnicity, Religion and Gender in Middle Eastern Musical cultures 15
15PMUH025 Indian vocal music: Styles and histories 15
15PMUH011 Klezmer Music: Roots and Revival 15
15PMUH028 Music in Africa: Critical Listening 15
15PMUH026 Music in Africa: Travelling on a Song 15
15PMUH022 Music, Nation and Conflict in Jerusalem 15
15PMUH015 Music, Place and Politics in Cuba 15
15PMUH016 Musical Traditions of East Asia (Masters) 15
15PMUH014 Pop and Politics in East Asia (Masters) 15
15PMUH018 Popular and Fusion Music in South East Asia (PG) 15
15PMUH021 Sacred Sound in South Asia 15
List B: Additional Modules
15PMUH004 Analysing World Music: Transcription & Analysis in Ethnomusicology 15
15PMUH013 Composition 15
15PMUH009 Gender and Music (MMus) 15
15PMUH003 The Music Business (Masters) 15
15PMUH030 Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology 15
List C: Music modules at KCL